The Kamba tribe from Kenya has a total population of just above 4.5 million people, making it Kenya's fifth largest tribal grouping.
The Akamba are a largely peaceful people. Their neutrality stems from the fact that since the evolution of the Niger-Congo tribes, they have been the Eastern Africa embodiment of the Arabic travelers of the desert, and the Chinese traders of the silk route; long-distance traders.
They have interacted with most of the tribes in Kenya, while involved with moving goods and services to and from the coastal region of Kenya, up into its lush beautiful highlands.
The Akamba people are generally found in Kenya, with smaller groupings in Uganda and Tanzania. Most people, however, do not know that there is a large collection of Kamba people found in..... wait for it ....Paraguay. I know, right?
I did not see that coming, and in South America? Long distance trading is not only a skill in this tribe, try global exchange.
This Kamba population in Paraguay which currently consists of about 10,000 people, has evolved into a sub-group of Akamba, popularly known as Kamba Cua, an important Central Department Afro-Paraguayan community in Paraguay, and their history is easily traceable back to 1820.
They arrived in Paraguay as members of a regiment of 250 spearmen, men and women, who accompanied General Jose Gervasio Artigas, the independence revolutionary leader of the Eastern Band (the current Uruguay) in his exile in Paraguay in 1820.
After their arrival to Asuncion, they settled in the Campamento Loma area, practicing dairy and secondarily agriculture.
However, in the 1940s, they were dispossessed of their land by General Higinio Morinigo. Out of their land of 100 hectares they were given paltry 3 hectares to stay on. The community however survived, kept its chapel and dances, created a football club ("Jan Six-ro") and one school of drum and dance for children.
Their ballet is the only Afro-Paraguayan expression, and premiered at the Folk Festival peach "Uruguay Yi sings in" 1992, where it won the "Golden Charrua".
As they revisit the current school system in Kenya, and come up with a more accurate representation of current life, how about drawing from an accurate history and including stories like this (and many more, am sure), in our history books.